''Joe Gould's Secret'' is a 2000 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor. Known as a character actor, he has played a wide variety of roles ranging from menacing to sophisticated, earning numerous accolades, including six Emmy Awards and two Golden ...

. The screenplay by

Howard A. Rodman Howard A. Rodman is a screenwriter, author and professor. He is the former President of the Writers Guild of America, West, professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, alumnus of Telluride Association ...

is based on the magazine article ''Professor Sea Gull'' and the book ''

Joe Gould's Secret __FORCETOC__ ''Joe Gould's Secret'' is a 1965 book by Joseph Mitchell, based upon his two ''New Yorker'' profiles, "Professor Sea Gull" (1942) and "Joe Gould's Secret" (1964). Mitchell's work details the true story of the eponymous Joe Gould, ...

'' by Joseph Mitchell.

Plot

Set in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in the early 1940s, the film focuses on the relationship between Joseph Mitchell, a writer for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', and Joe Gould, an aging, bearded, disheveled

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

graduate who wanders through the streets of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

carrying a tattered portfolio and demanding donations to "The Joe Gould Fund". At times Gould is calmly sweet and perceptive, at others he's a pathological liar and an obnoxious drunk, and he frequently experiences sudden outbursts of rage. Earning occasional financial support from poet

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), commonly known as e e cummings or E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. During World War I, he worked as an ambulance driver and was ...

, portrait painter

Alice Neel Alice Neel (January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984) was an American visual artist. Recognized for her paintings of friends, family, lovers, poets, artists, and strangers, Neel is considered one of the greatest American portraitists of the 20th ...

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jaz ...

founder Max Gordon, art gallery owner Vivian Marquie, and even the sculptor

Gaston Lachaise Gaston Lachaise (March 19, 1882 – October 18, 1935) was a French-born sculptor, active in America in the early 20th century. A native of Paris, he is most noted for his robust female nudes such as his heroic '' Standing Woman''. Gaston Lachaise ...

, Gould is able to secure a nightly room in

flophouse A flophouse (American English) or doss-house (British English) is a place that has very low-cost lodging, providing space to sleep and minimal amenities. Characteristics Historically, flophouses, or British "doss-houses", have been used for ove ...

s until an anonymous benefactor arranges accommodations in a residential hotel for him. Gould allegedly is collecting the observations of average citizens to incorporate into his oral history of the world, fragments of which he has given to various people for safekeeping. Mitchell meets him in a coffee shop and initially is fascinated by the colorful character. However, with the passage of time, as Gould becomes irritatingly intrusive and demanding, disrupting the ordinary life Mitchell shares with his photographer wife and their two daughters, the journalist begins to question if the elderly man's 9 million-word opus actually exists or is merely a figment of his imagination. One scene with Mitchell and Neel takes place at a gallery filled with the work of Lachaise, and was filmed at Salander-O'Reilly Galleries at 20 East 79th.

Cast

Ian Holm Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor. After graduating from RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and beginning his career on the British stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he became a ...

as Joe Gould *

as Joe Mitchell *

Hope Davis Hope Davis (born March 23, 1964) is an American actress. Her performances on stage and screen have earned various awards. She made her film debut in Joel Schumacher's '' Flatliners'' in 1990. She then starred in the critically acclaimed films ...

as Therese Mitchell *

Hallee Hirsh Hallee Leah Hirsh (born December 16, 1987) is an American actress known for her roles as Mattie Grace Johnson on '' JAG'', Daley in the children's series '' Flight 29 Down'', and as the adolescent and young adult Rachel Greene on '' ER''. Earl ...

as Nora Mitchell *

Sarah Hyland Sarah Jane Hyland (born November 24, 1990) is an American actress. Born in Manhattan, she attended the Professional Performing Arts School before having minor roles in the films '' Private Parts'' (1997), '' Annie'' (1999) and '' Blind Date'' ...

as Elizabeth Mitchell *

Celia Weston Celia Weston (born Celia Watson; December 14, 1951) is an American character actress. Weston received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in '' Dead Man Walking'' (1995), and also had supporting roles in more than 40 movi ...

as Sarah *

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

as Alice Neel *

Patricia Clarkson Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. She has starred in numerous leading and supporting roles in a variety of films ranging from independent film features to major film studio productions. Her accolades incl ...

as Vivian Marquie *

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...

as Charlie Duell *

David Wohl David Wohl is an American comic book writer and editor. He is best known as an editor at Marvel Comics and Top Cow Productions and, at the latter, writing '' The Darkness'' and ''Witchblade''. Career David Wohl began his creative career as a h ...

as Max Gordon *

Harry Bugin Harry Bugin (March 10, 1929 – October 6, 2005) was an American film, stage and television actor and musician. Life and career Born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of Isidore and Sadie Bugin, and brother to Ruth Bugin, he was a graduate of ...

as Newsman

Production

The film's

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

includes a number of period songs performed by

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (; born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a ...

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roo ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first ...

, and Geoffrey Menin among others.

Release

The film premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in January 2000. It opened on five screens in New York City and Los Angeles on April 7 and grossed $38,760 on its opening weekend. It eventually earned $468,684 in the US.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 65%, based on 34 reviews, and an average rating of 6.7/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said, "Sir Ian's ranting, fiery-eyed performance is the brilliant spark that ignites this otherwise rather somnolent film ... The movie does a lovely job of evoking a boozy 1940's Greenwich Village of poetry readings, cavernous bars and raucous parties ... Despite its rich period ambience and Sir Ian's fiery acting, the movie never brings Mitchell's relationship to Gould into clear enough focus ... Lacking dramatic tension, ''Joe Gould's Secret'' settles for being an atmospheric scenes-in-the-life biography of someone's most unforgettable character. It could have been so much more."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' observed, "Stanley Tucci is a director and actor with an openhearted generosity for his characters; he loves and forgives them ... Here he's made a chamber piece of quiet scenes, acutely heard dialogue and subterranean emotional shifts ... There is a dark, deep and sad undercurrent in the movie ... Some have said the film is too quiet and slow. There is anguish here that makes '' American Beauty'' pale by comparison." Edward Guthman of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' stated, " an Holmnails one of the best roles of his career ... uccidirects with quiet affection and rare restraint." Edvins Beitiks of the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'' said, "The good looks, sounds, sights and acting ... owe a lot to director Stanley Tucci ... Holm and Tucci are as brilliant in ''Secret'' as they were in ''

Big Night ''Big Night'' is a 1996 American comedy-drama film co-directed by Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci. Set in the 1950s on the Jersey Shore, the film follows two Italian immigrant brothers, played by Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, as they host an ev ...

'' ... The cast is outstanding ... but the movie belongs to Tucci and Gould with no room, really, for anyone else."

References

External links

* * {{Stanley Tucci 2000 films 2000 drama films 2000s buddy drama films 2000 independent films Films based on non-fiction books Drama films based on actual events Films set in the 1940s Films set in New York City Films about writers Films directed by Stanley Tucci American drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language independent films English-language buddy drama films